The Impact of Physical Activity on Students’ Academic Performance and Stress Levels

Group Members
Hafsa Altaf
Hoang Son Lai
Xingyu Wang

Problem Introduction

  • 🎓 Student well-being is a growing concern
  • 🏃 Physical activity is known to reduce stress, but its impact on academic performance (GPA) is unclear.

  • ❓ Research question:
    How does daily physical activity impact:

    • 📚 GPA?

    • 😟 Stress levels?

Dataset Description

  • 📝 Source: A Google Form survey completed by 2,000 students
  • 📊 Data set includes students’ self-reported GPA, stress levels and various lifestyle habits
  • 🔍 Key variables used in the study:
    • 🎓 GPA: 4.0 scale
    • 😰 Stress level: Low, Moderate, High
    • 🏃️ Physical activity: Hours per day

Methods

Figure 1: Distribution of physical activity hours per day

  • 📌 Most students exercised between 2–6 hours/day.

  • 📈 Right-skewed distribution with few extremes.

Group classification

  • 🧮 Figure 1 forms the foundation for the group classification.
  • ⏱️ Physical activity duration is grouped into:
    • Under 2 hours
    • 2–3 hours
    • 4–5 hours
    • More than 6 hours

Summary of key statistics

Physical activity group Average GPA Average stress
Under 2 hours 3.26 2.64
2–3 hours 3.17 2.45
4–5 hours 3.09 2.25
More than 6 hours 2.98 2.19

🔢 Stress level encoded: Low = 1, Moderate = 2, High = 3

📉 Trend: A gradual decrease in both GPA and perceived stress level with increasing physical activity.

Results

GPA and stress distribution by physical activity group

Figure 2: GPA distribution by physical activity group
Figure 3: Stress level distribution by physical activity group

Interpretation

  • 📉 An inverse trend was observed:
    • More physical activity associated with less stress.
    • But also with slightly lower GPA.
  • ⚖️ This suggests a trade-off between mental well-being and academic outcomes.

Limitations

  • 🧾 Self-reported data may be subject to bias.
  • 🚫 Unable to infer causality from correlation.
  • 🧩 Potential confounders (e.g., sleep, workload) are not accounted for.

Conclusion & Recommendations

  • Promoting moderate activity (2–5 hours/day) may help reduce stress without significantly harming academic performance.
  • Institutions should support students through:
    • Wellness programs promoting regular physical activity
    • Time management workshops for balancing exercise and study
  • Future research should account for sleep, nutrition, and academic workload to gain deeper insights.